Stiff-sided collapsible pocket and method of making such pockets



May 14, 1957 c. N. 020% STIFF-SIDED COLLAPSIBLE POCKET AND METHOD OF MAKING sucn POCKETS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 14, 1953 Wi kn 1i cALerioAa 152128233412 CaaHfloZZ wuss,

fr M M May 14, 1957 c. N. CROSS STIFF-SIDED COLLAPSIBLE POCKET AND METHOD OF MAKING SUCH POCKETS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 14, 1953 May 14, 1957 c. N. CROSS 2,791,866

STIFF-SIDED COLLAPSIBLE POCKET AND METHOD OF MAKING SUCH POCKETS Filed Jan. 14, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 may Iweniofl; 008 2 035 1203 0.,

byfila M W 444 40% flinfps May 14, 1957 c. N. CROSS STIFF-SIDED COLLAPSIBLE POCKET AND METHOD OF MAKING SUCH POCKETS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 14, 1953 l l r 1 I I I x I n I M8 023 N 08 08;, y yffd n United States Patent ice STlFF-SIDED coLLArsrnLn POCKET AND METHOD F Matilluo'sucnrocxnrs Carroll N. (Iross, Taunton, Mass. e v isst sa Jaa .4, 195 tats N 1 Claims. or. 45-64) This. invention relates to a stiff-walled collapsible pocket and to a method by which it may advantageously be made. The pocket maybe organized with auxiliary and cooperating parts in various forms, and it may be arranged to stand on the horizontal surface of a desk er to be hung on a Wall. It may be anticipated that a calendar will ordinarily be carried thereby or incorporated as a part thereof, and that the pocket will serve as a temporary file for memoranda and notes in the nature of reminders. While the pocket is commodious it may be collapsed in fiat form for mailing to a purchaser or donee and may be readily set up by the recipient and is readily collapsed if occasion calls for it. It may be made easily and from relatively inexpensive material and yet be at' tractive in its finished form. 'All this makes the article particularly suitable for distribution as a piece of good will advertising, which will be gladly received and kept. While the article is not necessarily formed by the particular methods which I will describe, such methods are advantageous and it is a meritorious feature of the article that it can be made by such methods. In general it is contemplated that the article he made from boards and flexible sheet material. By board is meant material of some thickness and stiffness such as cardboard and binders board as contrasted with paper, cloth, and similar freely flexible, more or less limp, thin sheet materials which I shall term sheet material.

The invention will be well understood by reference to the following description taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings wherein:

Figs. 1 through 5 disclose one form of the invention and in these Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing certain parts assembled in an initial stage of the manufacture;

Fig. 2 is a front view of the finished article certain parts, which have been cut away during manufacture, being shown in positions adjacent their original positions;

Fig. 3 is a rear view of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the construction of Figs. 2 and 3 as it would appear hung on a wall in use; i

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Figs. 6-12 illustrate another modification, and in these Fig. 6 shows boards assembled with flexible material in an initial stage of the manufacture;

Fig. 7 is a front View at a later stage;

Fig. 8 is a rear view of Fig. 7 showing the assembly severed to form two pockets;

Fig. 9 is a perspective of an auxiliary card combined with one of the separated elements shown in Fig. 8 to form the structure of Fig. 10;

Fig. 10 is a front elevation of one of the pockets produced;

Fig. 11 is a side elevation on a larger scale showing the pocket as it would be supported on a desk as a desk calendar;

Fig. 12 is a section on the line 12 H of Fig. 11; and

Fig. 13 is a plan view of a board such as may be used t p a s i a her msdifisatisa 2,791,8o6 Patented May 14, 1957 While, as stated, the article disclosed may be made by other methods, I believe'that the structure and relation of the various parts may more easily be explained by a recital of preferred steps of fabrication. Therefore I shall proceed to describe the modification of Figs. 1-5 in connection with such a method. Referring therefore to Fig. 1, a suitable sheet of flexible material is coated on its upper side, viewing the figure, with adhesive and there are superposed thereon two equal and generally quadrilateral boards 22] and 221- which it will be convenient to differentiate by calling them the front board, as indicated by the letter 1, and the rear board, as indicated by the letter r appended to the reference numeral. In general I shall append theletter f or the letter r to a numeral with like meaning where a differentiation seems desirable, but omit it where such differentiation is not required for clearness or where the statement made applies to both front and rear elements. Particularly where the rear face of board 22 is not finished it may be desirable to cover it with a lining sheet 24 of flexible material. The margins of the cover sheet 20 are then folded up over the edges of the board, bridging these edges and are sealed on the rear face, as indicated by Fig. 3. As far as the formation of the pocket goes, three edges should be so covered although in the drawing, for reasons which will appear, allf our are covered. This covering can be very expeditiously accomplished by means of a suitable folding machine of the g eneral type used to manufacture book covers i i To form the pocket from the two superposed sheets bound as described,'the front board 22 (see Fig. 2) is severed along a line Zti'generally-parallel to the bottom edge in thatfigure. This severance is made without cutting into the'back board, as isseen by the contrast of Fig. 3 with Fig. 2. The open top of the pocket which is to be formed between the front and back boards is the area below the line 2%. Between the line 28 and the bottom edge the boards front and back, together with the overlying sheet material, may be partly severed, along the dot-and dash lines 30, the continuity of said boards being thus partially interrupted along these lines, leaving however a certain thickness of the stock at the interior faces to provide hinges which will cooperate with the hinge formed along the bottom edge and side edges of the two boards by the bridging flexible material. Since in the example shown there is no corresponding incision parallel to the lower edge and the resulting pocket when opened has a V-form, as shown in Fig. 4, the lines 30 are extended inward from the lower corners or thereabout diagonally to the adjacent side edges of the boards, and the lines and these side. portions diverge from one another in a direction upwardly viewing Figs. 2 and 3, or away from the third 'or lower edge. To free these hinges both boards may be cut away at the extremities of line, 28, removing portions 32 (Fig. 2) and leaving notches 34, the walls of these notches intersecting the hinge lines 30. I have also shown in Fig. 2 portions 36 cut away at the lower corners leaving notches 38. When the lines 30 and the margins of the adjacent two sides of the assembly converge at a corner the removal of this material 36 is not strictly necessary to free the hinge, but it makes its movement somewhat more easy.

As a result of this construction the portion of the covered front board 22 below the line 23 (see Fig. 4) may move forward on the hinge line provided by the covering 20 at its lower edge, to provide an open top pocket, the side portions expanding in the manner of bellows as seen in Fig. 5 about the hinge lines provided by the bound edges and the adjacent incised lines 30.

Referring to Fig. 2, I have there shown the area of the front board 22 above the. line 28 as cut in a generally rectangular outline. 40. This cut does not extend into the back board 22r. The area within this cut may be removed to provide a sight opening behind which a picture, mirror, or similar fiat element may be placed. To provide access to this opening, and also to provide a hanging tab for the article, the rear board (see Fig. 3) may be severed from the back along a line 42, the end of which intersects the upper edge of the board to provide a tab 44, hinged by the binding material covering the upper edge which may be lifted out from the plane of the back board to the position shown in Fig. 4 to hang the pocket on a wall. When so lifted it provides also an access opening to the space between the front and back boards through which a picture may be inserted to lie behind the sight opening 40.

Referring to Fig. 3, I have also shown small, rectangular incisions 46 made in the lower portion of the back board. This permits a calendar, so marked in Fig. 2, to be secured by means of staples 48 or other clinching fasteners to the front board when the parts are in their flat and collapsed position without locking the front and back of the pocket together. If the severed portions bounded by incisions 46 are not removed the staples may,

as seen in Fig. 3, be clinched on these portions of the rear card and when the pocket is opened out they will move forward with the front wall vacating their places in the plane of the back Wall.

It will be noted that the blank comprising the bound units may be handled as such and may be readily severed front and back in the manner indicated by the operation of suitable dies. The flat assembly is easily printed with any desired legends, decorated by embossing and so on. The completed article in its collapsed form is compactly stored and shipped. For example, individual articles may be mailed in an envelope. The recipient may prepare it for use without difiiculty and without the use of any tools.

Referring now to Figs. 6-12, I there show a modification embodying a different construction of the auxiliary hinges which in the previous modification were formed by the incised lines 30. These figures also illustrate how two pockets may be made at once by handling a single blank. In describing this modification I use three-digit numbers and the last two digits will indicate a general correspondence between the parts and similar parts marked with the same two digits in Figs. 1-5.

Referring now to Fig. 6, there is there shown a covering sheet 120 on which are superposed front and back boards 1221 and 1221'. scribed as generally quadrilateral although, in order to provide a rectangular front for the pocket while retaining hinge lines converging toward the corners, two edges of the boards diverge from either end along the sides, upper These boards may still be de- I and lower viewing Fig. 6, toward the center and form broken lines, so that the entire board differs slightly from the rectangular form and is strictly hexagonal, although the two halves, each of which will form a complete article, are isosceles trapezoids. Slots 130 are cut inwardly from each corner of the boards, in this case completely interrupting the continuity thereof. Herein the slots are relatively perpendicular to the two end edges, viewing Fig. 6, but diverge from the adjacent portions of the upper and lower edges as the slots recede from the end edges. The slots may extend out to the corners of the boards, this being in a sense equivalent to the cutting away of the boards at 36 in the modification of Fig. 2, but a portion 131 is left between them at the center of the boards so that each board, 122 and 122r, may be handled as a unit, although after the work is completed there will be six separate parts formed therefrom. After the boards have been adhered by adhesive to the covering material 120, and in the case of 122r to a liner 124, the portions outward of the slots are further secured in their desired relative positions to the main body of the board. The covering is now folded about the edge of the board as before and the result when viewed from the front will be as seen in Fig. 7. From this partly completed structure of Fig. 7 two pockets may be formed by severing the blank centrally thereof, through both boards, as along the division lines 128) and 128r which as shown need not coincide. Potential hinge lines exist at the location of the slots 130, bridged over by the covering material 120. Where a slot 130 and adjacent side converge to one corner, as illustrated, it is not strictly necessary to cut away the corner of the assembly. However, at either end of the two lines portions 132 may be cut through both boards, intersecting the inner ends of the slots and removing the connecting portions 131 between them, so that the portions of each board, outward of the two slots, are now separate triangular pieces hingedly related thereto by the front covering 120, and also hingedly connected to one another by such lining where it bridges the original edges.

When a calendar is to be secured to the front of the material by staples 148, as shown in Fig. 10, portions 146 may be stamped out of the back board, as seen in Fig. 8. Herein (see Fig. 12) I have shown the structure which results when these portions are separated and discarded before the staples 148 are applied, which then clinch 'on the internal face of the front board 122 without engaging the back board 122r, so that the two sections are free.

To permit the pocket to stand on a desk or the like,

to serve as a desk calendar with facilities for the filing of memoranda, an easel leg 150 may be stamped out of the back board, as illustrated in Fig. 8, by cuts extending through the back board at three sides and leaving one, as indicated by the dot-and-dash line, partially severed or indented to provide a hinge line on which the leg may be swung outwardly as shown in Fig. 11. To provide for maintaining the easel leg extended, I may utilize a separate card 152 as shown in Fig. 9, which may be slipped down into the pocket and has stamped from it a prop 154, hinged along the line 156. The card lies flat within the pocket when all the parts are collapsed. When the easel leg 150 is extended the prop 154 may be swung rearwardly through the opening vacated in the back board 122 by the extension of the easel leg and the shouldered end portion of the prop 154 may engage a suitably formed cutout 158 in the prop. The card 152 thus serves to provide a partition subdividing the pocket. The pull of the easel tends to hold the partition close against the interior face of the back wall thereof. A memorandum of more or less permanent character, such as a card 160, bearing an index of frequently called telephones, may be inserted behind this partition, as indicated in Figs. 10 and 11, while the space in front thereof may serve to store more temporary memoranda, such as the slip 162. It may be noted here that Fig. 10 shows the pocket in a collapsed position, and is not a front view of Fig. 11. The plane front of the open pocket is rectangular in view of the disposition of the hinge-forming slots 130 perpendicular to the bottom edge.

In Fig. 13 I have shown a different form of board, providing for a pocket which expands, bellows-like, along its bottom, as well as along its sides, and I there illustrate a board 220 having slots 230 cut therein parallel to two sides, and another slot 231 parallel to a third side and in this case joining the other two. It will be noted however that the slots 230 do not extend to the upper margin of the board, so that it is a single unit. Two of these boards may be superposed and covered along at least three edges, the bottom edge and the two side edges shown. Three potential hinge lines are formed at the location of the slots because of the bridging of them by the covering material. These hinges may be freed by cutting the assembly along the dotted line 228 which intersects the upper ends of the slots 230 and forms the p, open top of the pocket and the lines 238 at the two corners, providing notches which cut into the intersections of the slot 231 with the slots 230. Thus, on three sides of the structure a-bellows-like arrangement is provided for which will open in the same manner as the side shown at the left in Fig. 12. A pocket in which the front and back move apart in parallel planes and the depth of which increased at the bottom as well as at the top is thus provided for.

In considering the several variations of location of lines 30, 130, and 230 described it will be noted that in each case those areas of the boards which lie between such lines and the adjacent joined edges and which terminate at the top and bottom of the pocket are by such lines separated or set off completely, except for the straight line hinging connection, from the main body of the board between them and thus the independent hinging movements of such areas is permitted. This is true whether the line runs out at a corner as in the case of 130 or the board is cut away as in the case of 30 and 230 to free the lower end of the area.

I am aware that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and I therefore desire the present embodiment to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, as is in fact clear in several matters from the description itself. Reference is to be had to the appended claims to indicate those principles of the invention exemplified by the particular embodiment described and which I desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A collapsible pocket comprising a circuit of hinged connected sides formed of board and having an open top, the back side having a three-sided cut therethrough to provide a prop which may be swung out to support the pocket standing up on a horizontal surface, a supplementary board of substantially the area of the open pocket loosely received therein and having a three-sided brace cut therefrom to be folded outwardly through the opening vacated by the prop, the brace and prop having cooperating locking means whereby the former holds the latter extended and the supplementary board is held toward the inner face of the back side to provide a subdivision of the pocket.

2. A display device comprising two stiff sheets movably connected together by means providing for their movement between a collapsed position wherein they are superposed with contacting faces and an erected position wherein the said faces are separated, a display element secured to the outer face of one sheet by fastenings passing through both sheets and clenched on the remote face of the other sheet, the other sheet having closed lines of severance enclosing portions thereof which are opposite the fastenings when the sheets are in collapsed condition.

3. The method of forming a collapsible pocket of the type described which comprises cutting through generally quadrilateral boards, each of a single piece and defining two pairs of opposite edges, slots extending adjacent at least two opposed edges, which slots define between them a central portion of the board and at least two portions outward of the slots, there being unbroken connections between said portions terminal to the slots, superposing two such boards and applying sheet material over the remote faces thereof which sheet material is extended to embrace at least three edges of the superposed boards including those formed by the above mentioned two edges and then severing the boards along lines intersecting the slots effectively to separate them from the beforernentioned unbroken connections, thereby freeing a circuit formed by said central portion and portions outward thereof for expansion and collapse about the hinge lines formed by the sheet material which extends across the slots and the superposed side edges of the boards.

4. A method as set forth in claim 3 wherein said slots are in an area of the board remote from an edge transverse to said two edges and the severance extends across the middle of the boards to provide the circuit of sides at one end of the assembly leaving a covered double lamination of boards at the other end.

5. A method as set forth in claim 3 wherein the slots are arranged at opposite sides of a median line of the boards and the severance is adjacent said median line to cut away a central zone of board to provide from each end thereof a circuit of sides having a top opening to the pocket formed by said circuit where the severed material is removed from the boards.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 149,289 Bryan Apr. 7, 1874 149,358 Tapley Apr. 7, 1874 547,377 Gilbee Oct. 1, 1895 768,340 Ormsbee Aug. 23, 1904 1,137,018 Paul Apr. 27, 1915 1,245,610 OBrien Nov. 6, 1917 1,770,105 Isbell July 8, 1930 2,177,405 Gross 1. Oct. 24, 1939 2,233,207 Gillam Feb. 25, 1941 2,373,873 Cross Apr. 17, 1945 2,383,776 Cross Aug. 28, 1945 2,565,944 Bergstein Aug. 28, 1951 

